Wednesday 9 July 2008

Day 35 Springfield to Champaign.

The order of the day today was a steady cruise. Steve was voicing that opinion as we met up and there wasn't anyone disagreeing with him. The two hard days in Missouri and yesterday's 'century' had taken its toll on legs in general. Our 3 set off together and Diane was a SAG assistant. It was a beautiful morning with no wind and again quiet as everyone was probably sleeping off the celebrations.
We slowly caught other riders and ended up with a group of ten going along in pairs and chatting. The first SAG at 31 miles was in a park near a cabin Lincoln frequented and it was strange to see Diane there.
The 10 of us rejoined after the break and the steady pace continued. The roads were flat with loads of cornfields and we had a couple of dogs run out at us but they were not a problem. The second SAG was at a cemetery, quiet. Steve was on the phone arranging to meet a film crew who were going to interview him, possibly on route.
A couple of miles up the road on East Ellis Road we saw Rob lying on the verge with his partner, who had joined him to ride with him to Portsmouth, on the phone. She was ringing for the van as Rob had fallen and his shoulder was a mess. He certainly broke his collar bone and I believe he also had a shoulder separation. So unlucky, as his ride was now over.
We all ambled into Champaign and Steve was greeted by the film crew ready for an interview. I kept going for a few extra miles and met an American lady at the traffic lights whose boss was Welsh and she had recently returned from Abergavenny!! She had recognised my Welsh top. Later in the evening we watched Steve being a star of stage and screen (well screen anyway) on the local news. He was later available to sign t-shirts, but only got to sign Al's and I'm not sure Al knew about it.
Today's distance was 100.12 miles.

2 comments:

Neil said...

Hi Wayne-O,

Finally, the secret is out of the bag!!! It's great to read about mum surprising you on your birthday, though I just heard about it first hand as I've just got back from picking mum up from Heathrow.

Glad to hear things are still going well, though you've got a lot of blogging to catch up on!!

All is well at home and we are looking after mum.

I'm not sure if I'll be coming over tho America now as funds are low, so my trip to Adrian, Michigan may be off.

Keep going dad, we think of you every day,

Love,

Neil and Anna

Gareth Poulton said...

Hiya Dad! Spoke to Mum last night, sounds like she had an absolutely fab time joining the gang in Spingfield IL. Glad to hear that you're OK and riding so well, keep it up, not far (relatively) to go!!

Hope the mule is keeping well too, I'll nip down to Nelsons and buy another bottom bracket ready for when you get back!

Superb blog, I log on every day to check for updates, keep them coming.

Ride carefully.
Love,
Gaz & Hels xx